5, 185-188 The 400 Blows, The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

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Antoine Doinel
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#76 Post by Antoine Doinel » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:05 pm

Here's a review of the BluRay with a good handful of screenshots.

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knives
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#77 Post by knives » Mon Mar 02, 2009 12:56 pm

Does the Blu come with the short or are we going to have to wait for a Blu boxset.

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geoffcowgill
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#78 Post by geoffcowgill » Sat Mar 28, 2009 1:25 am

I had seen that a lot of online retailers had the Blu-Ray listed at a SRP of $39.99, but now I notice criterion.com does as well. So much for keeping the Blu-s at the same price as the standard DVDs. Not that this package is worth any less than their other Blu-Rays, but, you know, just sayin'...

Rich Malloy
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#79 Post by Rich Malloy » Mon Mar 30, 2009 8:51 am

geoffcowgill wrote:I had seen that a lot of online retailers had the Blu-Ray listed at a SRP of $39.99, but now I notice criterion.com does as well. So much for keeping the Blu-s at the same price as the standard DVDs. Not that this package is worth any less than their other Blu-Rays, but, you know, just sayin'...
I wouldn't say it's worth less than their other blu-rays, but at $19.99 at Tower.com and $21.99 at Amazon it can certainly be purchased for less. You know, just sayin'...

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Foam
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Re: 185-188 The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

#80 Post by Foam » Sun Apr 12, 2009 2:56 am

How does the copy of The 400 Blows in the box set compare to the one Criterion re-released single in 2006, in terms of image quality and special features, etc? Are there important things one has but the other doesn't?

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kaujot
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Re: 185-188 The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

#81 Post by kaujot » Sun Apr 12, 2009 3:10 am

I believe the re-release is missing Antoine & Collete.

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dad1153
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#82 Post by dad1153 » Sat May 09, 2009 10:35 pm

Blind-purchased "The 400 Blows" on Blu-ray (the low price at retail helped seal the deal). Of all the Truffaut moves I've seen this is the one that left me coldest at the end ('is that it'? I thought after the famous final frame faded to black) and not just because the high-def transfer didn't look THAT much better or different-enough from other Criterion DVDs from that era (like Truffaut's own "Jules and Jim"). In the days after seeing it though "400 Blows" stayed in my mind (can't get Jean Constantin's piano theme off my head) and I continue to seek out opinions/reviews about it. The personal and autobiographical nature of the misadventures of Truffaut's on-screen doppelgänger Antoine Doinel appeared to this viewer as insignificant and predictable. It took a viewing of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" the same night and reading more about Truffaut's life for me to make the generational connection with "400 Blows" that what I perceived as insignificant and predictable events were the world that Doinel knew and lived to its fullest (warts and all). Plus, as someone that accidentally set the curtains of his bedroom on fire nearly burning down my mother's house (where she still lives) and also lied in school about her dying, the scenes where Doinel did similar things touched a personal nerve with me. It's almost disappointing to know Truffaut and Jean-Pierre Léaud went on to do more movies about the Doinel character because the power of this movie's last shot (like the 'cut-to-black' "Sopranos" ending) seems that would be more lasting if we didn't know what ever became of him. Looking forward to re-watching this BD with the two commentary tracks.

Some pics of I snapped of my "400 Blows" BD on my 47" 1080p Olevia LCD (PS3):

Image
Image
Image

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dad1153
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#83 Post by dad1153 » Mon May 11, 2009 2:48 pm

david, I'm at a disadvantage because I haven't seen the 'Doinel' sequels/shorts. The Criterion DVD Box out there is super-expensive (plus includes a "400 Blows" DVD I don't want/need now). The telephoto lens photography in "400 Blows" couldn't have been that good to begin with. It's a 50 year-old low-budget indie French movie, a hat-trick-plus-one of strikes against it. The higher-resolution of the Blu-ray format only exposes what has been there since the beginning but we couldn't quite make up on movie prints, TV, VHS or DVD transfers. I'm glad I waited until the BD to watch "400 Blows" for the first time but darn, even for $20 the image left me wanting more. And this from someone that thinks "Adventures of Robin Hood" and "Casablanca" look hot on HD-DVD. :|
Last edited by dad1153 on Mon May 11, 2009 3:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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kaujot
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#84 Post by kaujot » Mon May 11, 2009 3:08 pm

You may not want another 400 Blows disc, but Stolen Kisses is one of Truffaut's best, and, though there are plenty of people who find Bed and Board to be tiresome, I think it's pretty great. Love on the Run has its many well-documented problems, but you should still watch it (at least if you have any investment in Antoine Doinel's life). The set is an essential one. Expensive, yes, but absolutely worth it.

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knives
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#85 Post by knives » Mon May 11, 2009 3:15 pm

It should be cheap as all hell during the sale next month if money is the only thing holding you back.

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dad1153
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#86 Post by dad1153 » Mon May 11, 2009 3:20 pm

Money is holding me back from a lot of Criterion things (Mizoguchi/Ozu Eclipse Box Sets in particular) but a 'Doinel' Box set isn't one of them. I'm just not sure I want to venture down this path when my first viewing of "400 Blows" left me unimpressed (though not indifferent) to the movie's qualities. Let me watch it again with the commentary tracks before I decide to embark on further cinematic adventures of a character I didn't find that interesting or memorable upon making his acquaintance. I owe it to Truffaut to at least try. :wink:

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psufootball07
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#87 Post by psufootball07 » Mon May 11, 2009 3:23 pm

Plus the BR lacks Antoine and Colette, yes a short, but still a must for any fan of Truffaut.

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HerrSchreck
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#88 Post by HerrSchreck » Mon May 11, 2009 3:41 pm

Count me as another who was left quite cold by this material.

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kaujot
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#89 Post by kaujot » Mon May 11, 2009 4:28 pm

All of it, or just 400 Blows?

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Re: 185-188 The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

#90 Post by MTRodaba2468 » Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:11 pm

kaujot wrote:I believe the re-release is missing Antoine & Collete.
Yeah, I'm also pretty sure that the single disc rerelease has everything on the disc in the box set, minus Antoine & Colette. Which is a shame, since Antoine & Colette is excellent.

Then again, I have the box set, so I'm not 100% sure...

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dad1153
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#91 Post by dad1153 » Sun Nov 29, 2009 7:03 pm

Rewatched "400 Blows" for the fourth or fifth time over the weekend. In the months since last seeing it, when I professed disappointment at both the high-def transfer and the flick itself, I learned to appreciate more the fine details of 1080p B&W Cinemascope and the personal nature of Truffaut's cinematic narratives (after seeing a few more of his movies). I even put Jean Constantine's piano accompaniments on my MP3 player to soothe my hearing! I've finally shifted my opinion of "400 Blows" to masterpiece, so much so that I bought another BD from amazon over the weekend for thirteen bucks to give to my father. He was about the age of Doinel and Rene around the same time the movie takes place (late 50's) and had a promiscuous mother like Claire Maurier's character. This will be the first BD movie he will watch on his brand-new $80 Black Friday acquired Blu-ray player. :)

Netflix here I come to keep track of Truffaut's other Doinel movies, but I still feel that not knowing what becomes of the kid would have been a neat closing statement on the life of this character.

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Blood Pie
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#92 Post by Blood Pie » Mon Nov 30, 2009 2:33 pm

I hesitantly share your sentiment with Doinel's character being used in other films. Some are better than others but none come close to the nuance and era defining highs that the 400 blows achieve.

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dad1153
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#93 Post by dad1153 » Mon Dec 28, 2009 5:50 pm

Rewatched "The 400 Blows" (a Blu-ray gift from 'mua') along with my folks (who thought it was a porno when it arrived in the mail :roll: ) on their new Christmas-gift-to-themselves Blu-ray player in their 52" Samsung 120Hz LCD. Though not as eye-opening pretty as the high-def pretty pictures of "2001: A Space Odyssey" (HD-DVD) and "Baraka" (Blu-ray), which impressed them as movies in their own level, "400 Blows" is the flick that blew them away the most and generated by far the most intense post-movie discussion. I didn't know my old man (who was the age of Doinel the same year "400 Blows" came out) was institutionalized for shoving a kid into a tree root and severely hurting him, or that he spent half his educational life in that institution for juveniles. The night we watched "400 Blows" we talked afterwards with his wife (my stepmom) and I learned more about my father's youth than what he's shared with our family his entire life. God bless HD! 8-)

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Michael
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#94 Post by Michael » Tue Dec 29, 2009 8:40 am

The 400 Blows is truly nothing less than a loving camera taking us to the deepest reaches of our need for personal expression and using Annette Insdorf's words from the CC essay: an exorcism of personal experience.

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manicsounds
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Re: 185-188 The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

#95 Post by manicsounds » Mon Mar 22, 2010 12:30 am

After such a long time owning the boxset, finally opened it and watched "400 Blows" and "Antoine & Collette" (anyone else catch the spelling mistake on the back, "enhaced"?

Anyway, has the other chapters in the anthology film "Love At Twenty" been released anywhere? Can't even find the Shintaro Ishihara segment in Japan....

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Dr Amicus
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Re: 185-188 The Adventures of Antoine Doinel

#96 Post by Dr Amicus » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:19 am

manicsounds wrote: Anyway, has the other chapters in the anthology film "Love At Twenty" been released anywhere? Can't even find the Shintaro Ishihara segment in Japan....
I can tell you where it isn't - and that's on the UK Cinema Club release of Stolen Kisses, despite what it claims on the DVD back cover. It has "Antoine et Colette", but that's it.

excalibunny

Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#97 Post by excalibunny » Wed Nov 09, 2011 1:34 am

Digging up an old thread here. Is it worth it to buy The 400 Blows on Criterion blu ray? Should I wait to see if they release the box set? I've seen the film, but I just don't know if it's getting a re release in the box set.

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Der Spieler
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#98 Post by Der Spieler » Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:00 pm

I'm pretty sure they'll eventually upgrade the box set to Blu, but noone knows how long it will take.

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dad1153
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Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#99 Post by dad1153 » Sat Nov 12, 2011 11:53 pm

excalibunny wrote:Should I wait to see if they release the box set? I've seen the film, but I just don't know if it's getting a re release in the box set.
I got the Antoine Doinel Box Set on the last Criterion sale. The BD is a noticeable but not Earth-shaking improvement over the DVD in the Box Set, plus the BD doesn't have "Antoine and Colette" (which now that I've seen it's an indispensable companion piece). Personally I'm keeping the BD and the "400 Blows" disc in the Doinel Box Set because I love this movie and because Criterion is taking its sweet time upgrading catalogue Box Sets to Blu-ray (and who knows if "Antoine and Colette" will even be part of such an unkwnown upgrade).

Sequel

Re: 5 The 400 Blows

#100 Post by Sequel » Sun Mar 11, 2012 5:52 am

So if I order it off Amazon does anyone know if it'll be in a plastic case or the digipak?

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